East Stroudsburg North teacher heading to court on sexual misconduct charges

Monday

Jun 10, 2013 at 12:47 PMJun 12, 2013 at 11:14 AM

Andrew Scott

A 28-year-old East Stroudsburg North High School art teacher is heading to Monroe County Court on charges of having an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old male student.

Cynthia Hartopp waived her right to a preliminary hearing Monday before Stroudsburg Magisterial District Judge Kristina Anzini. Hartopp, who remained in Monroe County Correctional Facility in lieu of $15,000 bail as of Monday, will appear at a future date in county court, where she can go to trial, plead guilty or plead no contest.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Rakaczewski said that, though Pennsylvania law views 16 as the age of legal consent, part of the law changed in December 2011 to make it now illegal for teachers to have sexual or inappropriate relationships with students regardless of those students’ ages.

While waiting to sign her waiver paper work, Hartopp smiled and at one point laughed while talking to a male friend. Also present with her in court were another unidentified man and a third man identified as her father.

State police said they began investigating in April, after the school’s principal got an anonymous phone call about an inappropriate relationship between Hartopp and the student and contacted law enforcement.

Police said they interviewed the student, who told them he was Hartopp’s former art student and in the school art club which she ran at the time. The student said Hartopp first drove him to her North Ninth Street home in February and that, during subsequent visits to her home, they kissed and made other forms of physical contact, according to police.

Police said they then interviewed Hartopp and that she confirmed the student had been to her home on numerous occasions.